Law Firm Leadership Meetings, Retreats, and Events
I recently sent this to a law firm that is looking to create more impactful firm leadership meetings, staff retreats, and events. Hope you find it helpful.
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I suspect you all have a great deal of experience with the below and know you have already implemented several of them successfully over the years. But since we talked about community service events, I thought it might be helpful to expand the discussion to include several additional types of events that I’ve seen law firms execute effectively.
Below are 5 types of events that law firms may incorporate into their annual calendar, along with recommended frequency and some thoughts on goals and best practices.
Employee Appreciation. Two per year.
- Holiday luncheon. Recommendation: Hold at a nice place – White Oak is perfect. Have at least one partner say a few words of appreciation. Recognize a couple key individuals. Give everyone the rest of the afternoon off. No business talk.
- Firm and Family Day. Recommendation: Hold on a Saturday. I prefer the fall to avoid the summer heat and spring pollen. Farms or orchards make great venues. Employees with small kids can do hayrides, face painting, pumpkin picking, etc. This environment provides a great opportunity to treat spouses and kids to a nice day on the firm’s dime. In fact, one of the biggest goals for the leadership team should be to personally thank spouses for the role they play in supporting their significant other’s work at the firm.
Community Service. Two to four per year.
- MLK Day is a great option.
- Keep these to a half day max.
- Good options I’ve seen include:
- Medshare – packing medical supplies in Decatur, https://www.medshare.org/volunteer/atlanta/
- St. Francis Table – soup kitchen in Atlanta, https://www.catholicshrineatlanta.org/saint-francis-table
- Habitat for Humanity – painting and landscaping days are easy and fun
- Adopt-a-Road – provides some visibility for the firm, too
End of Year Meeting/Firm Retreat. All employees.
- One day with the full firm is sufficient, but it should be a long day packed with relevant info.
- Held off site, but at a convenient location.
- Very good food catered in.
- Cover the big picture items most important to employees. These often include benefits, firm initiatives, ways for folks to advance or take on leadership roles, etc.
Leadership Meetings. Only the key partners/decision-makers. Four per year.
- One half or full-day meeting per quarter. More frequent are fine, but those others should be in-office and less formal.
- One of the four meetings should run adjacent to the End of Year/Firm Retreat meeting. So leadership would meet the day before or after all the employees get together, with dinner that night at a very nice place. No business talk at dinner!
- Food should be top notch, locations should be very nice. You want other folks in the firm to want to be a part of the leadership team by how you conduct these meetings.
Sponsorship Events. One per year… maybe two.
- These are strategically chosen with the goal to drive new business revenue. An example may be a commercial real estate conference in Georgia.
- Typically includes a larger sponsorship investment of $1,000-10,000 with additional expenses for giveaways, graphic design, booth equipment, travel, etc.
- You would want to plan these several years in advance to avoid any favoritism complaints. E.g. one year is real estate, the next is employment, the next is corporate, etc.
The number one thing to have with all of these is organization. The second is having the right people on-board for planning, implementation, etc. Of course, I’m happy to help in any way with any of the above and really enjoy this type of work.
